


Under the Christmas Tree

by anonymous00255 (450495)



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: (Nicholas being sad before Christmas), Bobby being Bobby even while he's not physically there, But mostly fluff, Christmas Eve, M/M, Pre-Slash, Seiji/Nicholas, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22084696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/450495/pseuds/anonymous00255
Summary: He may as well use the key Bobby lent him and go sit under the tree. Back home, their Christmas tree is a rickety artificial one that has seen better days and the closest he and his mom have ever come to having a real fir tree was getting a few sprigs from the Christmas tree market one winter.A little Christmas miracle (or three).
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Under the Christmas Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this on the ...uh... *counts* ninth day of Christmas, so it’s not... that late...maybe...?
> 
> Happy holidays, Fencedom!

Of course Bobby has managed to smuggle in an actual Christmas tree. Nicholas is pretty sure he's heard Principal Eisler instruct Coach Williams to make sure the holiday decor is kept “minimal and hazard-free”, but somehow these rules utterly and totally fail to apply to Bobby.

So here Nicholas is.

It’s Christmas Eve and all his teammates - hell, practically all the people in the dorm - are home for the holidays. Except for Nicholas, who is stuck here at Kings Row till classes start again. (He had his bag already packed when his mother let him know she wouldn’t be home for the hols after all, and by then it was too late to come up with new holiday plans. Boarding was free for him as a scholarship student anyway, why should he even bother to go back to an empty and cold apartment?)

So he may as well use the key Bobby lent him and go sit under the tree. Back home, their Christmas tree is a rickety artificial one that has seen better days and the closest he and his mom have ever come to having a real fir tree was getting a few sprigs from the Christmas tree market one winter. 

He doesn’t hit the light switch when he enters the room, preferring to fumble around for the string of Christmas lights and plug that in instead. The dark mass in the centre of the room turns into a kaleidoscope of colours, the tiny lights multiplying in the huge baubles of various shades that Bobby has put up and reflecting off the shiny tinsel garlands. Nicholas lies down right next to it and looks up. Has he mentioned it’s a real tree? The smell of fir trees is familiar to him from the school grounds, but while outside it’s just a fresh note in the background, in the warmth of the room it takes on a different quality, stronger and yet more soothing at the same time. And is that the smell of cookies too? Sure enough, as Nicholas squints at the higher branches, there are gingerbread figures hanging from them. They look too regular in shape and too nicely decorated for Bobby and Dante to have made them themselves, so likely they’re bought. Or maybe from someone’s care package? Nicholas wonders if it’s okay to eat one of them.

The door opens just then, letting in a flood of bright white light from the hallway. Nicholas sits up, annoyed. There’s only one person that could be, and he stormed out of an argument with them only a short while ago.

Actually, not _all_ his teammates have gone home for the holidays. There’s this annoying fencing-obsessed guy who’s currently darkening the doorstep. With the light behind him, there’s no way of clearly seeing the expression on his face. But attack is the best defense, right? It’s easy for Nicholas to say, rather aggressively, “What do you want?” when Seiji’s renewed questions about his link to Jesse are still ringing in his ears.

“You forgot your phone,” Seiji says accusingly. 

“So what?” Nicholas shoots back. 

“So it’s been buzzing non-stop for the past ten minutes.” A glare. 

Nicholas makes no move from where he’s sitting. If Seiji wants to give him the phone, he can just as well cross the room himself.

Seiji says - and does - nothing for a second. It’s a bit like a fencing bout, with the two opponents taking each other’s measure. What’s unusual is that Seiji almost never needs this long to decide on a course of action. There’s a slight hesitation on his part, but then he says, “I thought it might be important, since it’s right before Christmas.” He takes a step towards Nicholas, holding out the phone. 

Nicholas, on his part, half-rises into a crouch and reaches out for it. It takes a bit of stretching, but he manages to clasp it without actually having to stand up. He sits back down as he checks his messages.

**Nicholas!** the first one reads. It’s from Bobby.

**I forgot to tell you that the gingerbread figures are 100% edible! Please eat them before they dry out and turn crumbly 😅🎄😋🥰😉**

Oh. He… might just do that, then.

But there’s more to the messages.

**And… please share them with Seiji too… if he wants…😊** Is that a blushing emoji? Of course it is. 

There’s a pic after that, Bobby with his mother and abuela, all smiling, Christmas tree behind them. **Merry Christmas!** it says right after.

And another message, from Coach Joe. That one is simply, **Happy holidays!**, but it helps too in banishing Nicholas’s dark mood. It’s even challenging to stay angry with his roommate after that. 

“Thanks, Seiji.”

There’s another of those odd short hesitations, then, “You’re welcome.”

Nicholas figures he might as well follow Bobby’s request. “Gingerbread?” he says. “The smell’s been getting to me since I first walked in here.”

“I have a diet plan,” Seiji reminds him. 

Nicholas rolls his eyes at that, but, like, good-naturedly. “It’s the holidays! C’mon, just a taste? We can split one, it’ll practically be one bite.”

He gets a long, long look from his roommate at that, and Nicholas is sure he’ll refuse. 

“Okay,” Seiji says.

Nicholas gapes. “Christmas miracles are real!” he blurts out. Quickly, before Seiji can change his mind, he stands up and grabs the nearest gingerbread figure - a star. It’s soft and easy to split into two, and before he knows it, Seiji is thoughtfully chewing on his half. His expression looks relaxed and his eyes less sharp. Maybe because of the Christmas lights playing on his face?

“It’s good,” he says, and Nicholas is rather abruptly reminded he hasn’t tasted his own half yet. 

Good is a serious understatement, he realizes. There’s easily twice as much flavour in there than any other gingerbread Nicholas has tried before. He’s already eyeing the next piece before he’s quite finished swallowing his mouthful.

But it’s rather difficult to forget Seiji’s presence right next to him, now looking vaguely uncomfortable standing there, hands hanging by his side. He’s stuck at Kings Row too, Nicholas finally remembers. He’s not spending the holidays at home with his father and what other family he has, but in a practically empty dorm, where the only decent holiday decoration is in Bobby and Dante’s room. 

Nicholas looks at him. “Why don’t we close the door and sit under the Christmas tree for a bit?” he says.

The pause before Seiji answers is shorter than before. “Okay,” he says, and moves to close the door. 

Make that _two_ Christmas miracles, Nicholas thinks in amazement. 

Seiji’s mouth gives a minute twitch upwards as he settles next to him under the tree and Nicholas mentally ups his tally again. Wow, these things really do come in threes, he thinks, right as he meets Seiji’s eyes and returns the smile.


End file.
